….Respond to corruption allegations against you, says ex-Speaker
Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has said former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the ruling All Progressives Congress due to fears that he may be indicted in the ongoing probe of the Niger Delta Development Commission conducted by the National Assembly.
He said the ex-Speaker was only striving to cover up his past misdeeds.
Dogara, while giving reason for his return to the APC, said it was to enable him to tackle the bad governance of Governor Mohammed in his home state.
But the Bauchi governor through his Special Assistant on New Media, Lawal Muazu Bauchi, said there was nothing patriotic about Dogara’s return to APC.
The governor said the reasons given by Dogara for returning to APC were not good and reasonable enough to convince any true and sincere heart.
“Those living in glass houses should not throw stones at others. With the current investigations going on in the National Assembly concerning the NDDC financial scandal, one may be right to say the guilty ones are afraid and the only escape route is to return to the old fold to cover up their past misdeeds,” he said.
On the allegations by Dogara, Muazu said, “Governor Bala is fulfilling his promise to conduct local government elections by fixing a date for that purpose. Financial transactions of public funds are done in an open and transparent manner unlike in the past when billions of naira were frittered away without any tangible project to show.”
But in his response, Dogara’s media aide, Turaki Hassan, said that the Bauchi governor should respond to allegations of corruption levelled against him.
He said, “It has been over one year since Rt. Hon Dogara left office as Speaker of the House of Representatives with an unblemished record of service. If there is any evidence of corruption against the former speaker, it should be published by those who make claim of its existence or forever keep their peace.“Governor Bala Mohammed, rather than hiring paid minions to hurl insults and make false allegations against the person of Hon Dogara, would do well to scrap up bits of honour left in him by addressing the charges of corruption and self-enrichment listed in the resignation letter of the Rt. Hon Dogara.”
